SNES/N64/GameCube MultiAV connector
Cable:
Console: 12-pin male 0.1“-spaced dual-sided card edge connector
Motherboard Pinout:
Note that Pin 3 can be either C-Sync or +12V depending on the consoles region (NTSC or PAL).
[Picture taken from an N64 motherboard on which most signals are already labelled]
Pinout Chart:
| Pin | Name | Description | Pin | Name | Description |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | R | RGB Red | 2 | G | RGB Green |
| 3 | CSYNC* | Composite Sync* | 4 | B | RGB Blue |
| 5 | GND | Ground | 6 | GND | Ground |
| 7 | Y | S-Video Y (Luma) | 8 | C | S-Video C (Chroma) |
| 9 | CVBS | Composite Video | 10 | +5V | +5 Volts |
| 11 | L | Left Audio | 12 | R | Right Audio |
*CSYNC/Composite Sync is replaced by +12V on PAL SNES and PAL Gamecube consoles (But not the PAL N64)
Not all signals are available on all systems:
| Signal | AV Famicom | SNES | SNES2 | N64 | GameCube NTSC | GameCube PAL |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Composite Video | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y | Y |
| S-Video | N | Y | N | Y | Y | N |
| RGB | N | Y | N | N | N | Y |
Some AV cables have different internal components between regions:
| Console | Signal | PAL | NTSC |
|---|---|---|---|
| SNES | Composite Video | 75ohm resistor to ground on Composite Video | Straight through to display |
| SNES | S-Video | Outputs S-Video but cable components (if any) are unknown at this time | Straight through to display |
| SNES | RGB | 75ohm resistors to ground on R, G, B and Composite Video | 220uF Capacitors* in series on R, G & B |
| N64 | Composite Video | 75ohm resistor to ground on Composite Video (and 220uF capacitor* in series is also recommended) | Straight through to display |
| N64 | S-Video | 75ohm resistor to ground and 220uF capacitor* in series on Luma. 75ohm resistor to ground and 68nF capacitor in series on Chroma | Straight through to display |
| N64 | RGB | Requires modification first - Only a certain early French model - 'NUS-001(FRA)' - can be modified easily. Any cable components will depend on the mod performed | Requires modification first - Only early NTSC consoles can be modified easily. Any cable components will depend on the mod performed |
| Gamecube | Composite Video | 75ohm resistor to ground and 220uF capacitor* in series on Composite Video | Straight through to display |
| Gamecube | S-Video | Does not output S-Video from the MultiAV port | Straight through to display |
| Gamecube | RGB | 220uF Capacitors* in series on R, G & B. If you are going to watch/use the Composite video picture aswell (Scart connection) then you also need to use a 75ohm resistor to ground and 220uF capacitor* in series on Composite Video | Does not output RGB from the MultiAV port. RGB can be obtained from the 'Digital AV Out' port by using a modified Component/D-Terminal cable. For more info see here. |
*220uF capacitors are polarised, and it is important that the positive leg always goes towards the console and negative leg towards TV/Display.
The PAL SNES was internally revised 4 or more times during its lifetime. Later consoles used a different video encoder chip and supporting circuitry and 'appear' to work fine with an unmodified PAL Gamecube/NTSC SNES Scart cable (with capacitors)
According to Jim Christy, the US and NTSC SNES have a 'DC offset', which is basically extra voltage, on the RGB lines (1v DC according to Jay Tiltons site). You can filter this out with one 220uf capacitor on each of the RGB lines (+ towards console, - towards display). PAL SNES systems do not need these caps, but require 75ohm resistors to ground in their place in order to get the video contrast down to the correct level. PAL GameCubes need the caps, NTSC GameCubes don't output RGB through this connector.
Actually, there appears to be different PAL models with different RGB output. In my case, I had an RGB SCART cable designed for GameCube (I popped the SCART connector open, and there were resistors on the RGB pins)(But I'm going to do my research about it later). I also had two machines: “SNSP-001(SCN)” (PAL, Scandinavian model) and “SNSP-001A(FRG)” (PAL, Unknown origin, possibly French or German, guessing by the “FRG”). The SCN model did NOT work with the GameCube RGB SCART (picture became close to completely dark after a few seconds), while the FRG model works perfectly with the “capping” GameCube SCART.
For reference, here's the pinout I use to connect all my systems to my monitors. A single common pinout means I don't need a seperate monitor cable for each system.
For info on adding RGB to some Nintendo 64 systems, see here.
To add RGB to a SNES2/SNESjr, see here.
Here is the pinout for the GameCube Digital AV port.
PAL Users Note: